Positive Psychology

I remember sitting in one of the psychology course' lecture and thinking:

Why do psychologist only study the negative abnormal qualities in people?

There certainly were good qualities in people that would be nice to study about so that we can learn about its roots and sources and strive to acquire them. That's when I found Positive Psychology at our very own campus and fell in love with it.

According to Penn's Positive Psychology Center (http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/), Positive Psychology is a relatively new field of study within Psychology that study strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. Penn Professor and past American Psychology Association (APA) President Martin Seligman is one of the pioneers in this branch and the Director of the Positive Psychology Center here at Penn, the only institution that offers Master of Applied Positive Psychology program. He also published a book called "Authentic Happiness" which I recommend to anyone interested in learning more about this fresh discipline with so much potential. Also by visiting http://www.authentichappiness.com/, one can find out about one's strengths by taking the VIA Signature Strength Test, developed by Penn scholars at the Positive Psychology Center.

PSYC 166- Positive Psychology was definitely an eye-opener course for me and made my summer at Penn so much more fascinating and intellectually stimulating than I ever hoped it to be.